Chapter 197 Slaughter in the Woods
In less than seventeen seconds, the three-man adventure group had turned into corpses.
The two spellbreaker knights remaining stood back to back and were fighting off the vampire swarm with their energy shields and flaming longswords.
It was unfortunate that most of the swarm consisted of vampire spawn, who were much weaker than the first generation of vampires that Mary had personally Embraced. As they gathered together, surrounded, and circled the spellbreaker knights, not only were they unable to break through the opponents' defenses, many of their companions were even killed by the runic longswords shrouded in flames as well as and the flame blades that burst forth every so often.
As the vampires engaged in a brutal fight, a red silhouette appeared on the low cliff beside the battlefield. A slim female proudly stood there.
Bright red armor, crimson longbow, seductive body, perfect looks, and that pair of crimson eyes glowing bright red…
Mary stepped on the stones of the cliff, her flawless figure displayed before everyone. However, her attention didn't seem to be on the battle before her, and was instead drawn to the woods nearby.
With the vast sea of trees and dense foliage, it was extremely difficult to see through the layers of green and to see what was below. But now, using countless Magic Eyes spread throughout the vast forest, she was able to see everything within a radius of ten to fifteen kilometers.
The stationary Magic Eyes, along with the agile vampire scouts, turned the dense forest into her ally. It was no longer an obstacle, but an advantageous homefield that allowed her to launch attacks as she willed, exterminating numerous small squads of witcher-knights at the same time.
The witcher-knight army had suddenly stationed themselves in Blue Hillock City half a month ago.
Their arrival had undoubtedly attracted the protests of the Blue Hillock City governor as well as its local nobles. Sadly, when faced with the overwhelmingly powerful dragon knight, the local forces had no choice but to keep their heads down and obediently follow the instructions of the opponent.
Meanwhile, the authorities of Blue Hillock City that had been turned into Mary's blood servants had settled down, and were continuously feeding information about the witcher-knights' movements to the adepts' base.
The two dragon knights had finally been able to determine that the evil invaders were most definitely hiding in the southern area of Greenland Forest, a vast area of dense trees that stretched for a hundred and fifty kilometers. And the opponent's identity was obvious! It was the heretic adepts that came from the World of Adepts!
This was clear from examining the injuries of the poor green dragon.
Amongst the massive planar world in the infinite sea of stars, the World of Adepts was always a nightmare that small and mid-sized material planes were never able to get rid of.
This was a terrifyingly large-sized plane that very much favored invasions!
A group of evil adepts that chased after knowledge with an impassioned madness, while ignoring all rules of society, lived within the plane. They had twisted minds and travelled about the depths of the sea of stars in groups, using their evil magic to find weak planes that could bring about resources and wealth for them.
They appeared fair and just! Everywhere they went they shouted for fair trade and equivalent exchange, as if they were a group of casters that kept to a strict set of principles. But the moment they realized the opponent didn't possess sufficient power to resist them, they would put on another face.
The adepts would use powerful martial strength, terrifying voodoo beasts, and horrifying plagues to weaken the wills of those who opposed them, then forcibly enslave their enemies.
They would prop up obedient puppets in every plane they conquered, turning them into leaders and having them order the natives to excavate mines, dig for jewels, and use every bit of their strength to exploit all the precious resources of the plane.
In the hearts of all the weak and small material planes’ natives, the adepts were a bunch of horrifying spellcasters that had twisted minds and insatiable greed, possessing powerful and evil magic to back up their desires.
Once these adepts were allowed to break into a plane and put down their roots, the only thing awaiting the plane was endless humiliation and a life of slavery that lasted for a thousand years. It would last until the last bit of the plane’s resources had been exploited!
Therefore, the moment they determined that the invaders were a group of evil adepts, the higher-ups of the knights' army hastened their actions.
The witcher-knights haven't finished rallying? Then we rally while we fight!
The resources for a planar war have yet to be prepared? Then we prepare while we fight!
The enemies' den has yet to be found? Then we search while we fight!
The first group of witcher-knights that gathered in Blue Hillock City numbered around 2300 men, while the spellbreaker knights, that had the power of First Grade adepts, had also reached 150 men. The radiant knights that represented the higher-ups of the knight's army, and who had power rivalling that of Second Grade adepts, numbered 20 men.
There were even two dragon knights with the power of Third Grades.
Sadly,Dragon Knight Kalyk’s dragon partner had been gravely injured, and could only be sent back to Dragon's Cliff to rest for the moment. This caused the witcher-knight army to lose an extremely mobile force!
The army of the witcher-knights had already been amassed. They only needed to determine the true location of the enemy's den, and then they would be able to charge forth with the force of lightning to thoroughly exterminate the enemy.
Unfortunately, due to the complex environment of Greenland Forest, the dragon knight’s numerous high-altitude investigations yielded no clues as to the location of the evil adepts. With no other choice, the higher-ups could only send out large numbers of small squads, paired together with adventurers and mercenaries, to launch a large-scale sweep of Greenland Forest’s southern area.
Meanwhile, to stop the knights' search operations, the adepts had emptied all of their reserved resources to construct a large batch of grim voodoo beasts, sending them into the surrounding woods.
Thus, countless savage and horrible battles that were bloody beyond imagination erupted in this vast sea of trees stretching for hundreds of kilometers. Of course, the number of human mercenaries, knights, and voodoo beasts that fell under the dappled shadows of the canopy was countless as well.
After a dozen days of bloody back and forth, the higher-ups realised that their search squads, led by witcher-knights, might be able to stave off the voodoo beasts that used all sorts of weird and peculiar abilities. But the moment they met the evil adepts wandering about the depths of the woods, they were dead, without even the chance to send out even the simplest of information.
Therefore, to increases the survivability of the search squads, most of the squad leaders were replaced with the powerful spellbreaker knights. These spellbreaker knights travelled in pairs and would mostly be able to survive even under the assault of adepts, as long as their luck wasn't absolutely terrible. Moreover, they would be able to bring back exceptionally valuable tactical information.
On the other hand, thirteen adepts were pulled from the base, along with the vast numbers of voodoo beasts, and sent to the woods in the south to hinder the knights' continuous searching.
The vast number of voodoo beasts fought alongside the evil adepts, and created a line of extermination within the southern woods of Greenland Forest, engaging the endless hordes of knights squads in repeated bloody and cruel pursuits and hunts.
However, as individual radiant knights started to impersonate spellbreaker knights, going undercover in squads, the situation on the battlefield started to become increasingly chaotic and terrible. Everyday, one could hear news about the extermination of knight squads or of adepts being killed.
For example, in the battle that was happening below the cliff now, Mary clearly had an overwhelming advantage in combat. As long as she joined the fight, and broke the united defenses of the two spellbreaker knights below, the swarm of vampires would most definitely be able to devour the two.
However, Mary, who was standing proudly on the cliff, only took a quick look at the battlefield with her bright red eyes before proceeding to ignore it. Even though her subordinate vampire spawn were suffering heavy casualties, she had no intention of helping.
With their backs to each other, the two spellbreaker knights were still fighting off the attacks of the bats, and started to show signs of worry in their eyes. The slightly older spellbreaker knight kept glancing at Mary. He finally couldn't wait and longer when he saw that the opponent had no intention of joining the fight.
Following a deep shout, the aura around the middle-aged knight started to increase rapidly. Violently surging runic energies gathered within the rune swords in his hands, ultimately turning into a radiant crescent moon, slashing towards the position Mary was standing at.
Mary's body flashed away from its original position. Her bat wings unfolded and she floated in midair, looking down on this middle-aged knight with a trace of disdain in her eyes.
When this battle technique that was most commonly used by the knights–Crescent Moon Slash– landed on the cliff, the highly concentrated runic energies instantly exploded. The strength of the energy was no less than a spell with 150 points of power. If Mary hadn't dodged, just that blow alone would have severely injured her!
It was almost as if a miniature sun had exploded on top of the cliff, as the violent runic energies instantly blasted apart half of the cliffside. The side of the cliff facing outwards started to crumble in a flurry of dust and crumbling rocks. Countless shattered stones and a ton of debris started to roll downwards, instantly flooding the battlefield beneath the cliff.
After some difficulty, the two knights were able to free themselves from the torrent of dirt and rock, and were finally able to find a spot to stand after retreating a hundred meters backwards.
Bright runic lights shone on the body of the middle-aged Radiant Knight. He gazed upon Bloody Mary, still floating in the air, his eyes betraying an expression of thought.
If she knew that I am a radiant knight, why wouldn't she retreat? Could it be…
There was no time for him to think. In the woods one kilometer northwest, a sudden commotion that exceeded the violent elementium flux earlier erupted. The radiant knight's face fell when he felt the terrifying elementium flux and saw the magic flames suddenly erupt.
"It's the Flame Demon!" The young spellbreaker knight couldn't help but exclaim, his eyes betraying shock and fear that couldn't be hidden.
After the bloody battles of the past few days, the knights and adepts had a better understanding of each other's forces.
The most terrifying force on the knights' side was most definitely that group of radiant knights. They were slightly lacking in mobility, but their powerful runic powers gave them incomparably powerful attacks and an impenetrable defense. In all seriousness, the only thing the adepts could do when they met radiant knights was retreat. They had absolutely no chance of beating them in a fight.
On the other hand, some terrifying characters had sprung up on the adepts' side as well. Such as Bloody Mary before him, who was always surrounded by terrifying bat swarms; or Evil Bugs Acteon, who could command tens of thousands of poisonous bugs. There were also other scary adepts with all sorts of odd abilities…
But none of them were as scary as the Flame Demon!
When the three-meter tall Flame Demon, clad in brilliant red flames all over its body, stepped onto the battlefield with his two fire golems, the doubled number of fire spells coupled with the Fire Deity’s explosions were enough to instantly kill a spellbreaker knight of the same grade.
Thus, whenever a knight squad met the Flame Demon in the depths of the woods, it would be the end of their fates right then and there!